Madame Butterfly
by BringerOfJoy
Summary: What if Lisbon's mother hadn't died but been in a coma all along? Leonora Olivetti Lisbon wakes up in a Chicago hospital twenty-four years after she suffered a car accident. Following the seven months of physical therapy she was thrown into, she arrives in Sacramento looking for her Teresa, and hoping to stay—for good.
1. Prologue

**Prologue…..**

Teresa had no clue on what to say to her mother, who sat anxiously in the waiting room of the Chicago Mercy Hospital. Her raven untamed curls were long, but suited her in a strange, feline way and she wore jeans and a silk turcquoise blouse, and black heals, of course.

Leonora's impestuous green-eyes searched the room for her daughter, her beloved daughter that she all but dreamed about, who she loved most of all people on Earth. She saw her. Troubled and tired emerald-eyes, identical to hers and dark wavy hair falling over her shoulders. No ring on her finger, flat belly indicating no pregnancy and judging by the lack of stains on her clothes, no children either. What had happened to her daughter? Why was she alone? Did she have a boyfriend? If she does, why are her shoulders so tense, unless of course, she's in a unhappy, sexless relationship. That's why they're tense, no sex. Poor baby…

"_Teresina_…" Leonora whispered as she got up in a hurry and nearly tripped into her daughter's arms. "I missed you, I missed everything that ever happened to you. I didn't get to watch you become a woman… I'm so sorry!" Agent Lisbon inhaled her mother's scent of jasmine and her eyes filled with tears. She felt like she was four years old all over again and had just found her mother after getting lost in a store. She was at home.

"It's okay, mama, I'm okay… I'm fine." Teresa whispered, the two witty Lisbon women clinging tightly to one another, not caring if everyone was staring or not.

"No, you're not fine. You're too thin, you haven't been taking care of yourself… Teresa, please, let me take care of you. Matthew came to see me and told me everything, or almost everything that I missed. He told me he worries about you." Lisbon could feel her body tremble against her mother's.

"No, I'm not _that_ okay…" She admitted, inhaling once again her mother's perfume. "I just, I've taken care of everyone for so long, I—"

"Hush," Leonora said, silencing her, "that you forgot you matter too. That you need to be taken care of as well. But don't worry, I'm here, okay? I'll take care of you Teresa and—We'll take care of each other, okay?" Teresa nodded, a sob escaping her lips. She held on to her mother with her dear life, and God forbid that she'd have to let go again.

The day her mother had gotten in a coma had been the worst of her life. The years following, as hers and her family's hopes diminished were the most cold and empty. Her Leonora Olivetti was the heart and soul of the Lisbon clan and without her, the patriarch died of drinking, her children became orphaned and lonely and the family home was no longer noisy and happy. Neither did they listen to the operas Leonora would put on every Saturday afternoon, that she continued playing until dawn.

But she was back, now, and slowly things would be okay again. Hopefully.


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: I hope this is of your liking. This story is particularly special to me because I've always been very close to my mother, she's one of my best friends, and I can't imagine myself going on with life without her. Also, I'm a big fan of opera and classical music, although I'm a bit of an amateur, I hope, with this story, to improve my knowledge of the style and introduce it to readers and mine and new generations, as I think it's a both beautiful and meaningful art that should not be lost. Thank you for reading and happy holidays!**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Mentalist, I do own, however, Leonora Lisbon.

...

Leonora followed her daughter inside her apartment, looking around, taking in all of the pictures, objects and nick-nacks that Teresa collected over the years, in hopes to learn some more about her. This was what unsettled her.

Leonora had always worked hard as a nurse, which was also a job she hated, and had always tried to be the best mother she could. Present, understanding, fun and playful, helpful, loving, wise. She hated herself for having been so reckless, leaving in her car, angry and nervous with her husband and thus becoming a "vegetable" for most of her children's lives. And now she didn't know a thing about them, her children.

"Teresa, what do you do for a living?" Leonora asked as she watched her daughter load her fridge and kitchen cabinets with the groceries they bought on the way home. "I know Thomas is a bounty-hunter, whatever that is, James is a lawyer, his wife Vivian's an art teacher and Matthew is a cardiologist. What about you?" Teresa looked at her mother and took a badge out of her jacket pocket.

"I'm an agent, mom." Teresa said with some sort of pride and a special shine in her eyes. "Senior agent, I work for the California Bureau of Investigation, I'm chief of the Serious Crimes Unit." Teresa was now smiling, she loved her job.

Leonora smiled too. Of course a cop daughter wasn't every mother's wish, but Teresa was happy and that was what mattered. Also, she had always enjoyed mysteries and cop stories, maybe this job of Teresa's wasn't so bad after all?

"A police agent, Teresa that's so exciting, how long have you been on the job?" Leonora began washing and dicing several types of legumes and cut some beefs for supper.

"Nearly fourteen years, I've been a Senior Agent for ten years, I was actually the youngest woman to ever become Senior agent and also the fastest to get there… It's a tough and extenuating job, but still, it's what I enjoy doing and I can't see myself doing anything else." Leonora nodded and offered her daughter a glass of wine.

"I'm assumimg you drink already?" Leonora said, a happy kind of twinkle in her eye.

"Yes, thanks. Mom, can I just tell you how much I missed your cooking?" Teresa said more enthused than she had been in years.

"Well don't get too used to it, I plan on finding myself a job?" Leonora started uncertain of what her daughter's reaction would be.

"As what?" Teresa asked sipping her wine, "you do realize that a lot has changed in nursing since the time you last worked?"

"Yes, I know, that's never been something I enjoyed working with, Teresa, although I do like helping people. You know very well how much I love singing and opera and how good I am, how much I studied it before and during the time I was married. I think that if I get enough practice I might be able to compete for the job as part-time lyrical teacher at he Sacramento Music Conservatory, I've already been researching, from Chicago?"

"Wow, you're fast…" Teresa said a bit thrown a back.

"Amore, you know how I can't stay without working, I mean, it'll only be part-time, I'll still be living with you if you'll have me and Teresa, this is my chance to start all over! 20-something years ago I promised myself I'd divorce your father, follow my dreams and give you and your brothers a better life, which you deserved more than anyone! I was robbed of that by fate, Teresa, let me at least do something with myself, something I've always wanted so that I wont die thinking It was all in vain!" Teresa was shocked at her mother's confession.

"You were going to divorce dad?" Leonora sighed in defeat and nodded.

"I already had a good job guaranteed, a wonderful house near Lincoln Park for us to live in, I was in love with another man…" The last part was said by Leonora in a whisper as tears pooled in her green eyes.

Lisbon didn't know what to think, her life would've been so much different if her mother hadn't gotten into a coma, if her father hadn't turned to drinking and abused his daughter for years until he died in a drunk stupor. Wow.

"What do you need to get into shape, mama?" Leonora quit seasoning her steaks for a moment as she looked into her daughter's eyes, identical to hers.

"I couldn't ask such a thing from you, sweetheart, I need to just get on my feet and work hard for a few months to—"

"Mother!" Teresa said seriously and sternly, as if she were about to preach a daughter, or Jane. "What is it you need?"

"A piano and music books and partitures and old and new records. I need to study Teresa, I need to know what opera's like nowadays, what kind of them are being more made, more procured. What kind of singer profiles are needed, I need to practice and get reacquainted with my own voice…"

"A piano for starters then?" Leonora pulled her daughter into her arms for a tight hug, so happy her chest was about to burst.

"You're the best daughter in the whole world, you know that?" Teresa chuckled.

Every small detail of her mother, every touch, every word, every smile or tear she cherished. She wanted to be in her mother's arms all the time.

"T'amo ma figlia cara, t'amo, t'amo, t'amo!" Teresa held in a sob. She loved hearing her mother rattle away in her native Italian. Teresa had been able to speak it as a child, and even some French, because of her mother who taught her and the music they listened to. But now, nearly in her forties, Lisbon had forgotten but a few words. She did know however, that her mother had just said she loved her, repeatedly. And she loved her mother too.

…..

"Dinner was great, mom, thank you." Leonora just nodded in thanks and curled her finger around one of Teresa's rich brown locks.

"Who's that man you kept scolding on the phone, your boyfriend?" Teresa nearly spit out her wine and Leonora rolled her eyes and chuckled knowingly. "If not Teresa, I do hope to meet him soon." With that she got up, straightened her shirt and turned towards the stairs. "You're on dish duty, and while you're at it Teresa, go thinking on a Christmas menu, it's in less than two weeks and you've nothing prepared."

"Why can't you do that?" Teresa whined as she cleared the table.

Leonora laughed heartily and climbed up the stairs, ignoring her daughter.

"I need some green-eyed grandbabies…" She murmured as she entered her new room.

**Thank you for reading, please take the time to review and let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don´t own the Mentalist, Bruno Heller does, lucky him!

...

Leonora walked inside the precinct for the first time. She could feel all eyes on her, clad in a simple long-sleaved white turtleneck and natural long linen pants, as if she didn't feel any cold at all. On her feet she wore brown ankle boots, that matched perfectly with the earthy-tones of her striped winter scarf, the dark brown trench coat draped in her arm as well as her leather bag.

"Excuse me, where can I find the Serious Crimes Unit, Teresa Lisbon, to be exact?" She asked a young male agent who had been typing away on his computer.

"Fifth floor, ma'am, hard to miss." Leonora nodded in thanks, with a small smile and walked away, all eyes still on the mysterious, dark haired woman who, except for the nose was the exact copy of the angry princess upstairs.

Leonora came across the elevator, she didn't know what to do and her hands started to tremble unconsciously. Bad things had once happened to her in elevators, things she'd rather not think of or remember.

She decided to take the stairs, although she still had four more floors. She could do though, with some exercise. She was sweating, her hair was falling from her updo, her breathing quickened and she didn't know if these were effects of nervousness or old age, she'd never been _old_ before, and she hated the thought.

Leonora proceeded into breathing in and out slowly, like her therapist back in Chicago had taught her and her pulse began coming back to normal.

"Elevators..." She hissed and ascended flight after flight until she found the floor her daughter worked in.

Teresa had told her strictly that she didn't want her mother in the precinct. Too dangerous, too busy, too copish. Leonora loved crime stories and had a mind full of creativity, curiosity and theatrics and she felt like the little girl in the proverbial candy store.

Leonora walked slowly into the bullpen, had stopped a few minutes in the wash room to try and look something less like she had a panic attack, again with the _bloody _elevators, and stopped in front of a redhead's desk.

"Um, how can I help you, ma'am?" Grace asked her politely and Leonora smiled big and bright feeling herself again. She happily stook out her right hand, although quite elegantly, somehow the sort of mixture of feelings you can find in Rossini's famous aria, Una Voce Poco Fa, by the adorable Rosina. Certainly, it was very much Rosina that Leonora was feeling right now.

"Is this the Serious Crimes Unit? I'm Leonora Olivetti, I came to see my daughter..."

Grace suddenly looked flabbergasted but sighed, "Mrs. Olivetti, I must say you cannot see your daughter right now, she's in custody being accused of murdering her own nephew."

"Wow, you actually let things out like that?" Leonora exclaimed excitedly. "Is that how you give bad news to parents, my dear, 'cause I could teach you, I'm quite the actress..." Grace blushed, embarassed, bothered and bewildered and Leonora chuckled soundly.

"I'm not the suspect's mother, thank God, I'm the mother of your boss, is she in?" Leonora said in a flourish, her silky black hair falling in her eyes. "And I need a haircut, só bad!" Grace giggled.

"I can't believe it, you're boss's mom! Why didn't I see it before, you two look quite alike!" Leonora waved her off with her hand.

"Van Pelt, where is she? I've work in an hour, it's my first day _can you believe?_ I haven't had a job in forever!" Grace jumped out of her seat and escorted boss's bossy mom into her office.

"Good job at work then, Mrs. Olivetti, it was lovely meeting you!" Leonora smiled and nodded politely.

…

"Mother? Mom, I said I didn't want you around here!" Leonora rolled her eyes and made herself comfortable on Lisbon's white couch, next to a quite handsome, quite... intriguing blonde man.

"Teresa! Who's the mother here? If anything, I should be the one bossing you around!" Leonora threatened, with a challenging green eyed glare. "Plus, you skipped breakfast só I thought I'd bring you some, and meet these infamous employees and consultants of yours." She turned her head to the person sitting with a large smirk next to her, watching them with curious eyes while sipping some Earl Grey tea. "How do you do, Mr. Jane?" She stook out her hand for him to shake, to which he complied, although he wasn't one to do só.

Jane would however, have great respect for Leonora, she was after all, the slightly crazy, slightly childlike and very funny woman who had given life to Jane's favorite person.

"Quite fine actually, Madame, I should say, your broche certainly brought out those gorgeous eyes... tea?"

"Only if you join us for breakfast." Leonora responded, interrupting Teresa who was about to decline her mother's... subtle suggestion.

"I'd love too." Leonora smiled hugely, hopped up from the couch and pulled her daughter from behind her desk, wrapping her green scarf around her neck and throwing her black leather jacket on her. "Stop being such a baby, Teresa..." Leonora said, pecking her daughter on the cheek. "I'm happy, can't you be happy too?" Teresa groaned and nodded mumbling swear words under her breath, Jane laughing hoarsely behind her.

"My dear Lisbon, I have completely fallen under your loving mother's spell..." He said as they entered the elevator. Leonora stopping behind them, outside the door, a nervous look on her face.

"It's okay, I'll go by stairs, I'll meet you in your car, Teresa." Lisbon looked flabbergasted, she didn't know if she accompanied her mom down the stairs or... but before she could make further assessment, Jane pulled her out of the elevator and they followed her mother down the stairs. "Thanks you guys... Mr. Jane, I have to say, you're nothing like I imagined you to be, especially when Teresa described some of your... misdoings."

"Oh, she told you how bad ass I am at this job?" He sent Lisbon an exagerated wink to which she replied with an eye-roll.

"Actually, she told me you were extremely annoying, reckless and had no respect for the law- sounds like you're very different, like you're both from completely different worlds, which I don't doubt- what I mean is, you see, is that you and Teresa, against all odds work well together, more than that, you work well with your differences in a way that you balance each other out."

"Thank you, Mother Lisbon... Lisbon and I are very much flattered." He nudged the serious agent who gave up her facade and smiled.

"You're right mama, against all odds, we're good together. Jane, drop the keys!" She scolded him with her hand out. Jane sighed and handed her her car keys again, waving her off.

"So, how about some ice cream?!" Leonora suggested as they reached the car.

"Seriously, mom, ice cream for breakfast?" Teresa stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm happy, get over it!" Teresa chuckled and they all got in the car, Leonora in the backseat, watching with wondrous eyes as her daughter and her consultant interacted, bantered and flirted, all in a ten minute drive.


End file.
